Che’s Zambales Trip

March 14-15, 2009

Attendance:

Chelo, Raf, Potch, A. Ghia, Rod and Che

My college housemates and I had been planning to go to Zambales for the longest time already.  But since organizing the group had been such a tedious task back then, it’d been postponed until last weekend.

DAY 1

Potch picked up A. Ghia and me at around 5am to officially start our weekend.  An hour later, we made a pit stop at Shell NLEX to have breakfast and meet with the other guys.  After having breakfast, we went to Shell’s Select to buy some snacks and toiletries.  I was even lucky to find Twix there.  Yes, most people are aware that I am in Twix frenzy for months now.  And after seeing Twix in NLEX, I kind of have this theory that they only sell these chocolates outside Manila.  I wonder why.  But I treated my fortunate Twix discovery as a sign from above that it will be a great weekend.

Before getting back on the road again, I saw Marc Nelson pass by our car.  And I thought, wow another good omen!

We arrived in Pundaquit, Zambales at around 9am.  Chelo already booked us an accommodation at Jimz.  I thought we had a pretty good deal because our air-conditioned room with bathroom only cost P3000.  And that’s for six people already.  Inclusive of the fee is the use of the cooking facilities in the resort.

Raf made an arrangement with a bangkero for a boat that was going to take us island hopping that day.  The service cost P2000 for the whole day.  So the five of us (minus Potch because he had to go biking), with our lunch in tow, rode the motor boat and headed to out to the first stop, Camara Island.

After a few minutes of picture-taking, we moved to Capones Island for more sight-seeing.  When we got to Capones, we took pictures and played a little Frisbee.

By the time we finished, it was already lunchtime that’s why we asked the boat driver to take us to Anawangin Island.  It started raining so the travel from Capones to Anawangin was not very pleasant.

Anawangin has an area where people can camp if they like roughing it in.  It also has picnic tables where tourists can sit down and have lunch.  You just have to pay P50 environmental fee when you go there which is not bad at all.

Our lunch consisted of adobo, egg and rice that was prepared for us by Raf’s aunt.  It was still raining when we were having lunch so our food got a little soupy.  Haha.  But it was fun all the same, eating under the rain.

Afterwards, we left our things in one of the picnic tables and headed out to take pictures and swim.  I have to say that I really liked Anawangin’s beach the best as compared to the other islands.  It has still, clear waters where you can swim around without fearing the huge waves.  It also has a flat beach terrain so non-swimmers can wade far from the shore.  Thank God for this because A. Ghia usually stays by the shore because she’s afraid of the water.  Well, not anymore.

We played ultimate Frisbee in the water.  Yes, in the water and not on the sand.

And took more pictures.

And it was still raining.

We left Anawangin at 4pm and headed back to Pundaquit.  We cleaned up and relaxed.  Some, including myself, fell asleep.  The others who stayed awake were the one who cooked our dinner, grilled liempo and vegetables.  After dinner, we bought beers and started drinking while the others who cooked took their naps.  We noticed that stars shine brighter in Zambales than in Manila.

After about an hour, Raf, Chelo, Rod and A. Ghia joined us for drinks.  Potch made us cocktails using the cocktail shaker we gave him for his birthday.  Raf and Chelo also tried their hand in cocktail mixing afterwards.  I just sat there and drank whatever they gave me.

After several stories and shots of alcohol, I was already a casualty.  I went back to the room at 3am, all drunk and vomit-y, and slept.

DAY 2

We all woke up at 10am with huge hangovers.

But Potch and I were tasked to cook breakfast so we had to get up albeit being dizzy.  We cooked spam, hotdogs and eggs in the small kitchen provided by the resort.  They have a really faulty gas range that had a very low fire, making us prepare this simple breakfast for an hour.  We ate and got ready to go back to Manila.  By 1:30pm, we were already heading out.

But before going back home, we made a pit stop in Xtremely Xpresso in Subic for a snack.  The place looked very quaint in contrast to their huge servings of food.  Potch bought a 22-inch Big Ben pizza while A. Ghia, Raf and I settled for their 14-inch.  And since the place served really good food, A. Ghia and Rod ordered burgers and lasagna for take out.  I, on the other hand, ordered the brownie tower thing because I am impressionable.  Haha.

At 3:30pm, we were on the road again.  Potch had a little tire problem so we exited in San Fernando, Pampanga to get a new tire.  Much to our dismay, tire shops were closed on Sundays so we settled for a vulcanizing shop instead.  By this time, we received a message from Chelo saying that Raf got caught overspeeding in NLEX. Haha.

I finally got home in Makati at 8pm, had Big Ben pizza dinner with Nicole and surmised my weekend spending.  All in all, I spent about P1700 for this weekend-including food, transportation, accommodation, toll fee, boat fee and of course, alcohol.  Compared to the amount of fun and relaxation we had, P1700 is not bad at all.

Tah tah.

Tags: anawangin, beach, zambales